I’m trying to remove the crank arms from a square taper BB and can’t get the *expletive* things off.

I’ve removed the hex bolt in the centre at both sides but they’re stuck fast.

The BB will be replaced but I’d like to save the cranks if possible.

Can anyone suggest a way of shifting them?

So far I’ve concentrated on using kinetic engineering 😉 but would be happy to use a more subtle method if it’ll work

the right tool for the job;

Proper way: buy a crank puller tool.

Botcher’s way: ball joint splitter. Hammer.

You need a cotterless crank puller. It screws into the internal threads in the crank arm and then pushes against the bb axle to remove.

mate you need to use a crank puller !

LOL………..

Definite muppet content.

You need to read up on how to do these sort of things before twatting them with a hammer.
The park tools website is a good place to start before you start damaging things.
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

*hangs head in shame*

Just ordered one, thanks chaps

Got one you can borrow Chris!

Edit – Sorry – not the Wombat I was expecting. You can still borrow it though if you are local. North Hampshire.

Certainly North but in my case Yorkshire, not Hampshire, thanks for the offer though. Got one for under £5 of Ebay

Also, the left hand tip may be bigger than the one shown in the first picture above.
If so, it is attached magnetically and should be removable – failure to do so will result in stripped threads, and you’ll be back to kinetics.

Thanks for the tip, I set out to dismantle it and hadn’t anticipated that they’d be so intransigent once I’d removed the hex bolt. I only gave the centre of the BB a couple of taps with a relatively small hammer and a drit to see if I could get any movement but to no avail.

Clearly a case of RTFI 😳

and you be back to Kinetics.

Indeed, and I have the special tool for when that happens 🙂

be careful of cheap crank pullers, they also do a very good job of removing the threads from inside the crank head instead of removing the crank from the axle.

Is it too late to offer a second opinion?

😆

Brakes speaks the truth. I had a cheapo version of the one that keeps posted. It ripped the extractor threads right out of the crank arm. Fortunately the Park one that I purchased had deeper threads and I got away with it!
Cheap tools can end up costing you more in the long run!